Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Once upon a time, criminal defense attorney Ben Myers was a big man in North Minneapolis, holding an officer position in the Jordan Area Community Council (JACC) and throwing his political weight around.

It was right around the time Myers and the other "old majority" members of JACC lost their "who is the true JACC" court case that it seemed like Myers started to make himself really scarce in the old neighborhood.

Now Myers owes a judgment from the failed "true JACC" lawsuit that followed his ouster and the appeal of that lawsuit is not going very well. (More on that later) A couple days ago I was cc'ed on an email to 311 with a "laundry list" of complaints about Ben Myers' property at 2615 Logan Ave. N., which city records (admittedly often out-of-date) state is owned by Ben Myers of 14834 Kelleher Ct, Savage, Minnesota.

Here's the list of what one neighbor North Minneapolis neighbor would like to see fixed at 2615 Logan Ave. N...

1. fix the gutter on the garage
2. fix the roof on the garage
3. paint the chipping trim on the garage
4. replace the rotting wood on the garage
5. remove the "shopping cart" full of garbage from the back of the house
6. remove the garbage and construction debris surronding the "shopping cart"
7. remove the brick from the back yard
8. remove the construction debris from the south side of the house
9. fix the broken fence
10. fix the broken fence door
11. REGISTER AS A VACANT/BOARDED HOUSE AND PAY THE $6,000 REGISTRATION FEE!!!!

The email in question was sent to 311 on November 5. However, only three days earlier on November 2 (according to the city property record) the building was boarded.